It’s another very wet weekend here – not conducive to gardening or taking garden photos so I’m happy I spent a bit of time yesterday wandering about, camera in hand. Here are a few things in my kitchen garden plus a few fabulous white (and yellow) ornamentals now in bloom in other parts of the yard.
I plant a few more asparagus roots every year, in the same section of the kitchen where the rhubarb is growing. One year I hope to have a few weeks of asparagus side dishes at dinner – this year, with only 12 or so plants, I should get a meal or two.
You can’t see them yet but at the end of a raised garlic bed there are two varieties of lettuce growing under these DIY plastic cloches. Our usual last frost date is mid May though so these will soon be removed.
The earliest spirea to bloom here is Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon.’ It’s very similar to a Bridlewreath spirea, but the shrub is smaller and it blooms earlier. It’s also just as tasty to hungry rabbits in winter – my feeble attempts at protecting it last fall were mostly a failure, but I do have a few branches looking like this.
The Magnolia I planted last spring is now blooming. This is Magnolia x loebneri ‘Merrill,’ which, as you may guess, is a cross between M. stellata and a lesser known Magnoilia – M. kobus. It sits about 20 feet from the kitchen window, and I’ve been enjoying it while washing dishes for the past week or so. I’ve been happily imagining it in 10 years or so…
Three new daffodil varieties now in bloom. Quail is in the centre – each stem has one to three small flowers, deliciously scented. I have the names of the other two somewhere…
Leucojum aestivum, sometimes called Summer Snowflake, has also started to bloom. To me, these look like Lily of the Valley flowers crossed with daffodils – the small flowers are quite entrancing as they nod in the breeze on the tips of tall stalks.
If you’d like to peruse Six things in gardens around the world, head over to Jim’s site. In the meantime, here’s a progress report on my rhubarb patch. Have a great weekend everyone!!
I grew up surrounded by bridal wreath spirea, and still can almost imagine the scent of those wonderful shrubs. I had asparagus for dinner last night; it’s fun to see it growing. When I was a kid, I called it ‘aspergrass.’
Did you realize, when you were a kid (or older), that if you didn’t eat it, asparagus would grow into those marvelous ferny things? I always smile when I see wild asparagus growing along the sides of the road here, and remember buying houseplants called asparagus ferns…
Yes! I loved those ferny things; I’d decorate my doll house with them in tiny vases. As for asparagus ferns, they’re almost a weed here. Some has set up shop about nine steps from my front door: prickly, but pretty.
I have the same spiraea here which is also starting to flower. The last frosts are usually no later than May 10 in the North of France but for this year, it seems over to me because nothing forecasted until then.
I always like the rhubarb follow-up. My mother came to see mine today, impatient to pick some but she told me that it was still necessary to wait a week (for mine).
Thanks for another trip down the gardening memory lane. My parents had a similar Magnolia that they lived to see the flowers last through frost and I haven’t seen Luecojum in a while, another old favorite. Doesn’t matter how many meals you get from the asparagus, they will be yummy. They look delicious already.
I do like the Spirea thunbergii. It is featured in along one of the walkways here at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. It is an early bloomer here and heralds the spring.
Oh those pesky wabbits! 😆😆😆 I have several bridal wreaths that have grown tall enough, somehow, to escape total destruction, but newer or shorter ones…not a pleasant sight in spring!
Snowflake is rad! Does it get invasive though? It is naturalized in a few situations here, but I am sort of . . . concerned by how it is in more situations now than it was only a few years ago. Because we lack snowdrop, we know snowflake as snowdrop. I suppose that I should eventually try to grow the real snowdrop to see what all the fuss is about.
Here, snowdrops naturalize quite readily, like Chianodoxa but not as quickly as Scilla. Summer Snowflake has not spread at all, aside from the clumps of bulbs expanding in place. I’m not sure if that’s because there are no pollinators that like the flower, or it’s just hard to start from seed…
That could be an advantage. Although I do not get the impression that it is aggressively invasive here, I really do not know what it will do in the future.
It is lovely! I’m heading out later this morning to pick up more root crowns to enlarge the bed…fewer dahlias, which feed the soul in late summer, more asparagus, which feeds the belly in late spring…
I am envious of that rhubarb Chris! 😉 Love the Narcissi you showed too. Spirea is opening here too now. Interesting to hear you last frost date is mid May, like here.
County Gardening 
I grew up surrounded by bridal wreath spirea, and still can almost imagine the scent of those wonderful shrubs. I had asparagus for dinner last night; it’s fun to see it growing. When I was a kid, I called it ‘aspergrass.’
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Did you realize, when you were a kid (or older), that if you didn’t eat it, asparagus would grow into those marvelous ferny things? I always smile when I see wild asparagus growing along the sides of the road here, and remember buying houseplants called asparagus ferns…
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Yes! I loved those ferny things; I’d decorate my doll house with them in tiny vases. As for asparagus ferns, they’re almost a weed here. Some has set up shop about nine steps from my front door: prickly, but pretty.
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I have the same spiraea here which is also starting to flower. The last frosts are usually no later than May 10 in the North of France but for this year, it seems over to me because nothing forecasted until then.
I always like the rhubarb follow-up. My mother came to see mine today, impatient to pick some but she told me that it was still necessary to wait a week (for mine).
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I’m waiting a week also, maybe two….
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Your rhubarb is certainly growing fast. We are still getting frosts, things in the garden are picking up slowly.
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We had a light frost two nights ago…this time of year, you can never trust the weather forecast!
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Thanks for another trip down the gardening memory lane. My parents had a similar Magnolia that they lived to see the flowers last through frost and I haven’t seen Luecojum in a while, another old favorite. Doesn’t matter how many meals you get from the asparagus, they will be yummy. They look delicious already.
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I’m definitely salivating anticipating home grown asparagus!!
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Love the Narcissus. The third one looks similar to Tahiti
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Yes, it is Tahiti! Good eye!
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I do like the Spirea thunbergii. It is featured in along one of the walkways here at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. It is an early bloomer here and heralds the spring.
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The flowers are so tight together…on a larger healthy bush it’s quite spectacular when in full bloom, eh?
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I think the rabbits have finished off my bridal wreath spirea. I’m glad you still have some! Home grown asparagus sounds delicious.
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Oh those pesky wabbits! 😆😆😆 I have several bridal wreaths that have grown tall enough, somehow, to escape total destruction, but newer or shorter ones…not a pleasant sight in spring!
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Snowflake is rad! Does it get invasive though? It is naturalized in a few situations here, but I am sort of . . . concerned by how it is in more situations now than it was only a few years ago. Because we lack snowdrop, we know snowflake as snowdrop. I suppose that I should eventually try to grow the real snowdrop to see what all the fuss is about.
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Here, snowdrops naturalize quite readily, like Chianodoxa but not as quickly as Scilla. Summer Snowflake has not spread at all, aside from the clumps of bulbs expanding in place. I’m not sure if that’s because there are no pollinators that like the flower, or it’s just hard to start from seed…
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That could be an advantage. Although I do not get the impression that it is aggressively invasive here, I really do not know what it will do in the future.
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I think the rabits have finished off my bridal wreath spirea. I’m glad you still have some! Home grown asparagus sounds delicious.
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How lovely to grow asparagus – wonderful!
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It is lovely! I’m heading out later this morning to pick up more root crowns to enlarge the bed…fewer dahlias, which feed the soul in late summer, more asparagus, which feeds the belly in late spring…
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I am envious of that rhubarb Chris! 😉 Love the Narcissi you showed too. Spirea is opening here too now. Interesting to hear you last frost date is mid May, like here.
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Our last frost date used to be late May, but it seems we’re a tad warmer in recent years…
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